crontab

crontab is a super useful tool used for regular background tasks like backups[6].

Create or edit a crontab entry using crontab -e in the shell. Don't edit them directly. Use crontab -e as the entry point.

Format

Here is an example of a crontab entry:

0 10 */2 6-9 * ./path/to/backup.sh

A crontab entry has two parts:

The scheduled recurring time to execute: 0 10 * * 1-5
The command to be executed: ./path/to/backup.sh

Time

The time format is relative to the current time on your machine. From left to right:

Minutes after the hour (0 to 59)
Hour in 24 hour format (0 to 23)
Day of the month (1 to 31)
Month (1 to 12)
Day of the week (0 to 7 or name e.g. Sun; 0 and 7 determine Sunday)

There are multiple types of specifiers you can use in each slot:

Specifier	Meaning
a	At a
a,b,c	At a, b and c
a-b	From a to b
*	first to last
a-d/x	From a to d with steps of x. `1-9/2` is the same as `1,3,5,7,9`. `/15 * * ` determines every 15 minutes; `0 /23 * * ` determines every 23 hours*; etc.

An example, where a script would run every other day at 10am from June through the end of September:

0               At the top of the hour
  10            At 10am
     */2        Every other day
         6-9    From June through the end of September
             *  Every day of the week

All five fields can also be replaced by a single @ command:

String	Meaning
`@reboot`	Run once i.e. at startup
`@yearly`	Run once a year i.e. `0 0 1 1 *`
`@annually`	same as `@yearly`
`@monthly`	Run once a month i.e. `0 0 1 * *`
`@weekly`	Run once a week i.e. `0 0 * * 0`
`@daily`	Run once a day i.e. `0 0 * * *`
`@midnight`	same as `@daily`
`@hourly`	Run once an hour i.e. `0 * * * *`

Command

A command can be any command you would normally run in the shell. Everything must remain on one line, so I would recommend using && and shell scripts.

Other

List your current crontab file using crontab -l. This is useful for automated backups using crontab :).

Gotchas

The crontab file MUST end with a newline[2].
If using a script, ensure your script file you want to execute does not have an extension[3]. e.g. ./backup will run but ./backup.sh won't. Add a shebang to your script file, like #!/bin/zsh for shell or #!/usr/bin/env python3 for Python 3[4].
To ensure your $PATH and other aliases are present, preface your commands with /bin/bash -l -c (or whatever shell) and encapsulate your command in single quotes. e.g. ./build turns into /bin/zsh -l -c './build/'.

References

Incoming Links

Dotfiles

Last modified: 202401040446